Simpósio de um dia com Carlos Caldas patrocinado pela EACR

Simpósio de um dia com Carlos Caldas patrocinado pela EACR

The one day symposium gathered for the first time the portuguese cancer research community. In the absence of a national society for cancer research, portuguese investigators are dispersed through their discipline of origin and/or circumscribed research interests and an open forum for presentation and discussion of their work was enthusiastically received. Two hundred delegates attended the meeting, which unfortunately could not host all those willing to participate due to logistic/space limitations. Eighty three posters were presented and discussed during the 2-hours lunch break. Lively discussions during lectures and at the poster session created an environment where people met each other for the first time in many cases, and also a platform to share their interests, resources and research findings with “neighbors”.

The Plenary Lecture was given by Carlos Caldas, from the Cambridge Research Institute, who discussed “Darwinian evolution and clonal heterogeneity in human cancer – biological and clinical implications”integrating data generated by large scale genomic analysis. The first block of lectures took place in the morning and focused on “platforms, facilities and technologies”. A talk from Fátima Carneiro (IPATIMUP/Medical Faculty/Hospital S.João, Porto) focused on tumour banks in Portugal, Ana Miranda (IPO, Lisbon) on cancer registries, João Varela (IST/LIP, Lisbon) on a new Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) scanner developed by a Portuguese Consortium and Paulo Crespo (LIP, Coimbra) on preclinical and clinical high-sensitivity positron emission tomography (PET); on developments aiming at real-time in vivo dose monitoring for assisting (and improving) radiotherapy; and radiophysiology and radiobiology studies with proton beams at the PETproton cyclotron of the University of Coimbra. An ample discussion followed, chaired by José Mariano Gago (IST/LIP, Lisbon) and Manuel Sobrinho Simões (IPATIMUP/Medical Faculty/Hospital S.João, Porto). The second block of lectures took place in the afternoon, after lunch and poster viewing. The first talk, by José Luis Passos Coelho (Hospital da Luz/Hospital Beatriz Angelo/FCM-UNL, Lisbon) on a population-based retrospective study of male germ cell tumours was followed by three talks with a more “basic research” approach. Raquel Seruca (IPATIMUP, Porto) discussed the role of E-cadherin disfunction in gastric cancer, João Barata (IMM, Lisbon) gave a talk on IL-7R-mediated signaling in T-cell leukemia and, finally, Miguel Godinho (IGC, Oeiras) presented data on the role of telomerase in melanoma progression using a zebrafish model.

By the end of the day Julio Celis and Carlos Caldas, on behalf of EACR, offered two prizes of 500€ to a PhD student and an early Postdoc (<3yrs). The candidates were selected by a panel that had access to the abstracts and visited the posters over lunchtime. The prize for the PhD student was awarded to Maria do Rosario Andre (IPOLFG/FCM-UNL) as first author of the poster entitled “Interleukin-6 expression in bone marrow-derived cells regulates metastatic disease”. The prize for the early postdoc was awarded to Salomé Pinho (IPATIMUP, Porto) as first author of the poster entitled “N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases III and V regulate Ecadherin stability at the cell membrane. Implications in the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition”.

A final address of Julio Celis to the audience preceded a meeting of the Portuguese Division of EACR, where steps underway to create a Portuguese Association for Cancer Research were presented by Leonor David (IPATIMUP/Medical Faculty, Porto) on behalf of the Steering Committee – Carmen Jerónimo (IPO-Porto/ICBAS, Porto), Fátima Baltazar (ICVS, Braga), Fátima Cardoso (Fundação Champalimaud, Lisbon), Raquel Almeida (IPATIMUP, Porto), Luís Costa (FMUL/IMM, Lisbon) and Rita Barros (IPATIMUP, Porto).

The feeling during and after the meeting was that the symposium created an opportunity for all cancer researchers in Portugal to organize a national Cancer Research Association. Next steps, including formalities and creation of a website, are underway.

We thank all speakers, chairpersons and delegates for their enthusiastic contribution. We thank EACR for the presence throughout the Meeting of Julio Celis and for his enthusiasm from the very beginning of this organization, for the support of Robert Kenney in all the organization process, and to Kathryn Wass, Rachel Warden and Andrew Binns for the excellent administrative and technical support. Local sponsors, Fundação Eng. António de Almeida and Novartis, were also invaluable for the success of this organization.

Leonor David (IPATIMUP/ Medical Faculty, Porto), President of the Steering Committee of the Portuguese Division of EACR